Although 2017 is expected to be a down year for originations, Freedom Mortgage – already a top-10 ranked lender – is poised for growth via mergers and acquisitions and is pondering deals for both servicing rights and other shops. Company CEO and founder Stanley Middleman told Inside Mortgage Finance bluntly: “We’re shopping.” Although Middleman declined to name any targets, he said...
Tricon Capital Group’s recent announcement that it plans to buy single-family rental operator Silver Bay Realty Trust for $1.4 billion in cash is a potential sign that this thriving sector could be in for a round of consolidation. Once the deal is completed, the combined SFR company will have 16,800 homes in its stable of rentals – 9,000 coming from Silver Bay and 7,800 coming from Tricon American Homes, the U.S. residential division of the Toronto-based TCG. Among SFR operators, TAH/SBRT will rank...
It’s been roughly 42 months since the last nonbank mortgage lender went public. And it could be another 42 months before the next one comes along the way things stand today, which is kind of odd given that the industry is coming off its second-best production year of the decade. But most publicly traded nonbanks, with a few exceptions, haven’t exactly lit the world on fire the past two years. Two of the nation’s largest nonbank servicers – Walter/Ditech and Ocwen Financial – continue to trade near their 52-week lows and at a steep discount to their all-time highs. In the case of Ocwen, the fall has been...
There are currently more buyers for retail origination platforms than there are entities available for sale, according to Strategic Mortgage Finance Group. Stratmor helped advise First Priority Financial last year as the lender was being acquired by Caliber Home Loans. First Priority had more than 370 employees with branches in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Iowa. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. “This deal, along with several other transactions in the Stratmor pipeline, now enable...
According to one advisor: “I do think a thaw is on, but if you threw it on the grill, it would still be pretty tough because it’s not fully defrosted.”
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